Mobile Phones Should be Banned in Schools Essay Example
The issue of students using mobile phones at school has been a contentious issue in the media in recent times. Mobile phones have no place in schools and must be banned. The opposers would argue that mobile phones can improve social development and are useful learning aids. It has become blatantly clear mobile phones are not beneficial for learning and social development. Instead of assisting students, mobile phones have become an absolute distraction in the classroom causing neverending buzzing and detrimental cyberbullying. Additionally, mobile phones are a great tactic for cheating on exams. Cheating on an exam is an unspeakable act earning not only, the school, a despicable reputation, but the child. It is appalling how schools still, promote the idea of mobile phones in classes!
Too many distractions are created because of mobile phones. Mobile phones have become the main distraction in classes causing poor grades and incessant buzzing. A study from Harvard University from 2017 has compared students, who texted during a lecture versus those, who did not. Students, who texted during the lecture took lower quality notes, retained less information, and did worse on the tests. 80% of participating students agreed, that using a mobile phone decreased their ability to pay attention to important information. This is further supported by the ABC NEWS investigation from 2015 that have delved deeper and has found that students in mobile affected classes are impeded and are not able to finish given tasks in an allocated amount of time. It is clearly apparent that these damaging devices not only generate inferior grades but can also affect student’s confidence in their learning and their eagerness to learn at their best. Mobile phones should have no options in schools and must be banned to enable more focussed learning to take place for every student.
Consequently, as a result of mobile phone usage in schools, cyberbullying rates have risen astronomically. Every second, a child is subjected to cyberbullying due to the increasing number of mobile phones brought into schools. Cyberbullying causes physical and emotional harm, such as exclusion, harassment, trolling and catfishing, leading to distressed and discomposed students. These acts of abuse are atrocious and should force schools into action by banning mobile phones! An article in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ in 2017 revealed that suicide was the leading cause of death of 15-20 years old adolescents, often linked to online bullying because of the heavy use of mobile phones.
One tragic story included a victim suffering from cyberbullying. "My sixteen-year-old son was cyberbullied on Facebook over a period of 8 hours. The event was so traumatic it caused my son to have an acute psychotic break and to be hospitalized in an adolescent psychiatric ward for almost a month. He has changed forever and will never be the same mentally. Internet bullying can hurt and affect people and kids need to know this. These kids are not being punished in any way and think the incident is funny! We know it is life-changing." " - Parent of the 16-year-old boy from MN. Such evidence proves that this act of abuse is detrimental and causes children to feel depressed and down for an extended period of time. In addition to cyberbullying at school, it often continues in the safety of children’s homes via messaging, email, Snapchat, Instagram and so forth. Bullied victims are surrounded by constant, disgusting messages, having no place to call safe! Students’ well beings are more important than mobile phones in schools. How would an adult feel in the child’s position, being constantly bullied having no safe place?
Furthermore, mobile phones, not being banned in schools would allow cheating. Cheating is an abhorrent habit and is made even easier with a mobile phone, because of the mobile phone’s convenience nowadays. One-third of students cheat on exams using mobile phones, according to the US News poll last September. The aftermath of a child cheating would be suffering from a bad reputation and falling behind in their learning. Not only do the students suffer, but schools also suffer obtaining a less than desirable reputation, sooner or later. Sixty percent of high schools, who allow mobile phones suffer from declining enrolments after their reputation has been tarnished. This clearly suggests that many schools have suffered the consequence of allowing mobile phone usage at school. There is no place for mobile phones in schools because of the link to cheating and resulting damage to a school's reputation.
In conclusion, mobile phones have no purpose for students in schools. These unnecessary devices create an absolute distraction by causing irritating buzzing noises, taking many students’ attention away from their lesson. Cheating has become an ever increasing problem in schools because of the convenience of mobile phones, threatening their reputation. Sadly, cyberbullying rates have increased because of the increasing amount of mobile phones brought into schools. It is imperative that mobile phones be banned in schools to create a fruitful environment for students to learn at their best and feel safe in, at all times.
